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High Tech Work: Energetics
At our energetics facilities, we provide full-spectrum capabilities. We conduct research and ingredient testing through full-scale motor testing. Detonation of up to 500,000 pounds of explosives on our ranges is possible.
Explosives RDT&E
At WD, Explosives RDT&E includes the development of explosives, warheads, shaped charges, and castable explosives; ordnance safety; ordnance-pollution abatement; and characterization of metals under explosive loading.
Propellants
China Lake was the first to develop plastic bonded explosives (PBX). Propellant RDT&E began with a concentration on double-base propellants and expanded into work on liquid, smokeless, and alternative solid propellants; combustion instability; manufacturing and storage applications; material and system safety; and liquid, solid, ramjet, and hybrid propulsion systems. China Lake propellant work has also found application in space programs, weather modification, and ejection systems. China Lake was the first to synthesize the CL-20 energetic molecule, one of the most significant energetic ingredients in the past 50 years.
China Lake Integration and Propulsion (CLIP)
Under the aegis of the Naval Air Systems Command, the Ordnance and Propulsion Laboratories represent the U.S. Navy's most comprehensive and unique center for research and development of missile propulsion, ordnance, and fuzing. The Ordnance and Propulsion Laboratories provide a one-stop shop for propulsion and ordnance: from the synthesis of ingredients for propellant and explosives to their incorporation into weapons systems; from design of warheads, bombs, fuzes, and rocket motors to their implementation in the Fleet; and from computer analysis to removal from service. As an example, at the Skytop facility Trident and other massive rocket motors with up to 1 million pounds of thrust are tested.
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